The Health Promotion Administration (HPA) on Friday urged caution as sexual assaults stemming from online dating continue to climb, particularly among teenagers.
For the first time last year, reports of sexual assault involving an offline meetup exceeded 10 percent of the total number of sexual assaults at 924 cases, or 10.82 percent, Ministry of Health and Welfare data showed.
Last year, 3,680 cases reported involved victims aged 12 to 18, 9.4 percent of which involved an offline meetup, the highest percentage in the past few years.
The ease with which bad actors can hide their true identities and intentions online, combined with teenagers’ curiosity toward their developing sexuality, is a dangerous combination, said Chang Hsiu-yuan (張秀鴛), director-general of the ministry’s Department of Protective Services.
Aside from the risk of unwanted pregnancy, blackmail using intimate photographs is becoming increasingly common, Chang said, urging caregivers to keep tabs on which apps their children are using and who they are meeting.
Teens are used to their schools and parents advising them to be cautious when dating online, Taiwan Association for Sexuality Education executive director Cheng Chi-chia (鄭其嘉) said.
However, most tend to believe that nothing will happen to them and brush off “the talk” as a standard speech given by all parents, she said.
Instead, Cheng suggested changing up the discussion by offering academic literature or sharing true stories.
Through frank and positive conversation about online dating, teenagers have the chance to internalize the lessons and better understand how they could find themselves in a dangerous situation, she said.
Yet if something does happen, help is immediately available, Chang said.
The nonprofit Institute of Watch Internet Network can help take down intimate photographs or videos, while perpetrators can be prosecuted for assault and the threat of using intimate images against them, she said.
To minimize risk when meeting up with someone offline, the HPA offered a list of recommendations.
Before leaving, notify friends or family about where and with whom the meetup is going to happen, it said, suggesting a busy location for the meeting.
The agency also cautioned against posting identifying information online, including one’s name and photographs showing clear features.
Lending money to or accepting gifts from unfamiliar people is also inadvisable, including consuming food or drink offered by a stranger, it added.
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
LIKE FAMILY: People now treat dogs and cats as family members. They receive the same medical treatments and tests as humans do, a veterinary association official said The number of pet dogs and cats in Taiwan has officially outnumbered the number of human newborns last year, data from the Ministry of Agriculture’s pet registration information system showed. As of last year, Taiwan had 94,544 registered pet dogs and 137,652 pet cats, the data showed. By contrast, 135,571 babies were born last year. Demand for medical care for pet animals has also risen. As of Feb. 29, there were 5,773 veterinarians in Taiwan, 3,993 of whom were for pet animals, statistics from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency showed. In 2022, the nation had 3,077 pediatricians. As of last
XINJIANG: Officials are conducting a report into amending an existing law or to enact a special law to prohibit goods using forced labor Taiwan is mulling an amendment prohibiting the importation of goods using forced labor, similar to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) passed by the US Congress in 2021 that imposed limits on goods produced using forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region. A government official who wished to remain anonymous said yesterday that as the US customs law explicitly prohibits the importation of goods made using forced labor, in 2021 it passed the specialized UFLPA to limit the importation of cotton and other goods from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur region. Taiwan does not have the legal basis to prohibit the importation of goods